


Fate Incited

by DestinyFreeReally



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-06-04 22:28:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6677872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyFreeReally/pseuds/DestinyFreeReally
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Canon divergence after The Gift. But really not? While in Heaven, Buffy's summoned by the Powers That Be, and told a tale of a First Evil, a shared power, and souls entwined. How much Buffy believes in fate and how much she's willing to tell it to dust.... Remains to be seen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

     "Let me get this straight- I died to save the world and you wanna call what, _backsies_?" How many redos could a girl get. This was different than the first time, Buffy knew.

     She'd fought the Master tooth and nail, willing to give anything to beat him, and that had meant dying (for a second!) and living again, just because that ugly sonuvabitch just wasn't gonna get away with killing her that easily. Closing the portal with her blood, her life.... Dying to protect Dawn, and her family and her world. That'd felt right. She was at peace here, warm and happy and safe. How many nightmares had she had about her death coming on the wrong end of her own stake? Being quick and painful and meaningless, in the long run. Death had been her gift- to all of them, and heaven was a gift just for her.

     "Not exactly. The situation is highly complex..." A dark, hooded figure spoke to her in that tone, of half-guilt, half-derision. It almost reminded her of Giles.

     "Ooh, I've got time." Buffy crossed her arms, resolve softening to at least hear him out. It wasn't everyday the Powers That Be summoned you from heaven. Even to meet with their secretarial robe. Unless this was gonna be her new everyday? Death was starting to be complicated.

 

 

  
     Spike saw the light on in Dawn's room from the street and crept up the stairs just to turn it off. It was well past 3 and he was surprised to find Dawn awake. Well, not surprised. Sleep hadn't come easy for either of them for awhile, but he thought they'd at least gotten past the worst of her nightmares. That was how he functioned now. Dealt with each compartmentalized problem at a time- every task a floating island he could hop to from the last, keeping his feet in front of him. His nightmares still proved nasty. He saved Buffy in lots of them, and he killed her in lots of them, too. A century of bad, his brain had to work with, he figured it was only fair it started working on him. He deserved it he figured, since it should've been him that-

     "Spike?" Dawn jumped up from her desk and closed the book her nose had been in. "Is... everything okay?" Every once in awhile Dawn remembered that in what felt like an alternate universe she'd once crushed on Spike. _Ick_. Before... Before. Now he was sort of familial. An older brother who scared every one else but you. Well, mostly anyway.

     "Little late to be waxing lyrical in your diary, pet. Saw the light on, what's up?" His eyes scanned what they could of the work on her desk- it was dense, dusty stuff, probably from Giles' library.

     Her instinct was to lie. He wouldn't trust her with this- familial or not- and she didn't wanna ruin her only real friendship these days by lying. Well. Maybe he'd trust her. More than the Scoobies, anyway.

     "Would you believe me if I said Derek's hair did this amazing thing in algebra today and I really just _hadda_ get it down?" She wasn't really trying, but she couldn't just spill something like this, especially when there was still so much she didn't know.

      "Ten syllable words on a whelp's gel preferences? Not likely, Bit." He leaned against her dresser, positive this was going to be good. She hadn't baited him in awhile. Another island seemed to present itself to him.

     "Okay, not here. Can we meet at your crypt tomorrow after school? I actually do haveta get some sleep if I'm gonna pay any attention to Derek's hair in algebra tomorrow." She flashed him a Summers' smile. Rot if this girl wasn't 'real.'

    "Sure, Bit. We'll do the after school special. Will the witches miss you?" He didn't want to disturb the quasi routine they'd all finally agreed to. He wasn't even supposed to be here now, he should've been out patrolling or something with the bloody robot.

     "I'll tell Tara but I'm sure they'll be glad to take a night off from wringing their guilty, guilty hands about not caring about me." Her tone bit of bitterness, she shrugged away as quickly as it appeared. She knew they all blamed her- all of them except Spike who blamed himself; even if none of them said it. She sorta blamed herself. "I'll tell Tara."

    "Night, Bit."

     "Night, Spike." He flicked the light and headed out for Willy's. Some islands floated too far and alcohol helped him swim.


	2. Chapter 2

     Buffy had been listening for what felt like an actual eternity. Like with eons. She felt.... Enlightened, sure. Frustrated, though. 'Knowledge is power' hadn't really ever had meaning to her.... She'd had power even when she hadn't had knowledge. And now fate offered her both.

    A path was shown to her. It was explained as a reasonable inevitability. Some things you couldn't change completely, but you could manipulate them. With enough power. So she would live again. As a reasonable inevitability. And there would be pain, and suffering, and triumph and love, and all the ups and down of being a human being, again. Back to being a messy human being with a messy life and no safe, warm knowledge. She would manipulate what she could to change the world.

     "They're gonna resurrect me?" She tried to keep the harsh out of her voice- it felt like betrayal, even though they'd have no way of knowing that. _Knowing_ crept up on her, she couldn't focus the big picture all at once. Not yet. "Can't we.... Stop them? You... Can't you stop them." _Very knowledgey plan, Buffy_.

    "We are able to alter the timeline... Amend some events before they happen. Soften the blows to the balance, not prevent them completely." The redheaded Wicca couldn't be afforded to stay so unpredictable. The powers saw infinite timelines and possibilities, and some were too dire not to eliminate. Some power was too great for it's own good, but it  _could_ be good.  
  
     The balance, Buffy reminded herself. That's what her mother had always been concerned with. Buffy fighting demons every night wasn't about  _winning_ , so much. It was about balance. About keeping the world off the brink of evil, even if you could never erase evil from its plane. Good needed evil to exist, Buffy could concede that. It just  _sucked_ that she personally had been collateral, and probably would be again, for  _balance._

     "So Buffy kept the tag on her Heaveny gift?" She was already gearing up, and already dragging her feet. "What do I get out of this arrangement?" An idea came to her. They needed her. As far as she was concerned, that meant they needed her happy. All her actual life as the Slayer she had her strings pulled, by her parents, by evil, by her Watcher, by the Council. Apparently by fate. Maybe it was time  _she_ got to pull some strings.  
  
     "You  _get_ to save the world, Slayer. From an insurmountable evil. And share your power with the world over." The Messenger of the Powers seemed to be getting impatient with her- Buffy recognized that tone, too. That was good, maybe he'd be less willing to haggle and just meet her demands.  _Demands._ She was shaking hands with destiny, finally at long last. But what did she want?   
  
     "Eh, been there, done that. Insurmountable evil is _so_ 1999." A smile she couldn't hold back poked through. "Without my agreement, my friends tear me out of here. Unleash the greatest First evil, that shakes the balance of good and evil so bad that even beating it eventually isn't enough to stop centuries of damage across time and space to the balance, yada yada. I sacrifice time in Heaven, play along and be a good Slayer again, and we get a heads up and a head start, decreasing the inevitability of evil tipping the scales of destiny." She'd took some liberties but she thought the gist was there. Calculated inevitability and heady risk all seemed to make sense to her. She just  _knew_ now. "It's because of Spike's soul that we beat the First's army of death's cheerleaders at all? He holds back the tide of Hell with Slayers, more than one, as support?" She was fuzzy on the details, fate wasn't exactly  _crystal_. They'd shown her enough to make an educated decision about her impact on those she considered her family, and on the world. It'd been revealed to her that Spike would go through trials to get the soul; no curse, no backsies.  _Probably._  
  
    The Messenger curtly nodded.  
  
    "If all you've shown me is true, he loves me as an equal, as an partner? And that's integral to keeping the balance?" She paused for the nod. She knew it was all true. Knowledge was power here, and power had always had a  _feeling_ to her. It  _felt_ true that she'd love him and that it'd be a mess. They were both always better at dealing with pain than actual messy emotions, without fists and stakes and threats that sounded empty even to her. When it counted she'd counted on him, and apparently fate thought that mattered. But it'd be doomed. At least in the old timeline. She'd always be sacrificing. Well, maybe that wasn't the Slayer way anymore.   
  
    "Skip the trials." Her voice hardened, and she got sure. Things became clear to her. She was going to win against evil, even in the small ways, she promised herself. She'd already lost so much to _balance._  "Give Spike his soul when he asks, so he can be the champion the world needs. Skip the First making him mad."She shuddered for a second. "Skip all that pain." Another pause, she considered her final, maybe most damning demand. "Tether it to me. Or I guess... tether me to him. It's possible?"   
  
     There was a pause, she thought she finally saw the Messenger's face, shriveled beneath the hood he'd been hiding behind. A final nod came eventually, like the world was up for consideration, and then all Buffy saw was light. 


	3. Chapter 3

    _Willow's light footsteps had been echoing for as long as she could remember, but something drove her on. She followed a dark, winding hallway around a final bend, and was brought face to face with a glowing Buffy. Billows of light fanned off her, like a full moon on pavement._  
  
 _"It's time. I'm ready now. A new gift's been promised. Sisters don't come everyday." Glowy Buffy kept a glassy expression until her glow-lit eyes softened into her hazel ones, and she smiled. "Well, not yet they don't. We'll be ready." Her eyes glowed white-gold again, and she nodded. Willow stood frozen, by awe and beauty and warmth, and all she could do was gaze at her friend. One word echoed in her mind; heavenly.  
  
  
    _Willow woke with a start and peeled sweat-slick hair back from her face; gasping for breath that wouldn't come. Tara sat up, stirred from her own sleep-  
  
     "Baby? What is it?" She rubbed Willow's back in small circles, trying to ground her and breath with her; let her know she was awake now. "Willow?"  
  
    "I...We have to do it tonight. She  _told_ me to, Buffy did. It hasta be tonight." Every fear Willow had kept closeted stared her in the face now and all she could do was set her jaw. Her best friend  _needed_ her, isn't that what she'd said? Willow was sure. Throwing back the covers, she pecked a kiss to the side of Tara's face and hoped it was some semblance of a placeholder for explanation. Tara's face still contorted with concerned confusion told her it surely wasn't. But there wasn't time.  
  
     "Trust me; I  _know."_ Jumping up, Willow knew they had a lot to do before tonight. Before it was time.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 

     All Dawn had chirped out was to trust her; then she'd clapped her hand over his and the room has spun on it's head. The world had.   
  
     "Pet?" The sky before him now swelled with furious clouds, splaying their anger to him with an electricity that tingled his vamp senses. Where the hell was Dawn. Where the hell was  _he?_ He could smell Dawn in the middle of the storm's scents. "Bit?"   
  
     "Spike!" She ran to him, girlish smile all a glow. "Spike I did it! I did it! I actually did it!"  
  
     "Gonna need a bit more, pet. Where the bloody hell are we and what did you do?" She was practically bouncing next to him, he knew her pulse buzzed in her.  
  
     "Okay, so I still have a lot more reading to do. I don't recognize this  _particular_ dimension, but hey infinity is hard to study between class periods." Dawn  _couldn't_ keep it in, this was exciting, this was- what her sister had  _died_ for. A threatening crack of thunder and lightning shook her briefly, but only excited her more.   
  
    " _Dimensions_?" Spike could only stutter at her, and his eyes were doing a weird blink thing that half reminded Dawn of Giles. "We've left the  _dimension?"_   The tick in his jaw meant business, she knew. He was wary of even small magic, and the loose grasp he had on understanding  _bleeding dimensions_ didn't offer him any comfort at all. He swore under his breath and tried to wrap his head around- "We've left the dimension?" He asked in a more serious, calm tone this time- looking into Dawn's face in a way that made her slightly squeamish.   
  
     "Don't be mad! I can get us home!" The storm swirled above them, seemingly getting angrier by the second, with light rain beginning to fall on them. She knew he was gonna be freaked at first. But look at her! She was key girl!   
  
     "Well then bloody the hell do it! Explain at  _home_ in our own damn  _dimension._ Bleeding fuck." Polished fingered tangled in his blonde hair. Never a dull moment.   
  
     "Fine, fine. Keep your duster on." She held his hand again and smiled at him, and then the world turned.  _Which world_ , his mind bit out.   
  
     And just like that, all limbs fully attached, they were back in his crypt, smell of rain gone- all he could smell was-  _sunshine_.   
  
     "Something's happened." Something wasn't right- he hadn't smelled _that_ in-  
  
      "Well, duh. I learned how to  _almost_ control being a portal between dimensions. I was kinda thinking it'd be sorta big Sunnydale news. Probably with it's own punny headline." Dawn looked up at him and crossed her arms and  _refused_ to feel sorry about this. This would be great! Think of all the not-saving they'd have to do for her from now on! Think of how much Giles is gonna clean his glasses and consider the possibilities! _Maybe_ she could even find a way to get to whatever dimension Buffy was in! She looked at Spike, willing her thoughts quiet when he seemed... paralyzed, almost. Not at all as angry as he'd been a minute ago, but he looked...  _calculating._  
  
     "Not that.  _That_  we're going to have a very serious talk about.  _Almost_ control being a bloody portal between bloody dimensions  _are you daft_ _do you wanna read headlines about fifteen year olds having their lungs ripped out_  if anything happened-" He wasn't sure he was even talking to her. It was just...  
  
     "Spike. You said later." Later she could puppy eyes her way out of a lecture. Probably. Especially with research! She'd actually done research! But Spike was still off now, eyes unfocused even when he looked at her he almost looked through her. "What's going on?" She watched him swig something amber and bubbly and pick up weapons. Mr. Pointy among them, she noted.   
  
     "Later, yeah? Later. Promise, bit." It was too much to hope for, his brain told him. A trick of the senses, a strong lapse in memory. But he had to  _see._ He had to see. "We're going to find out what's happened, alright? Stay behind me." Spike took off across the cemetery, weapons in hand, and Dawn knew instantly she'd have no trouble staying behind him. She could move between dimensions now but there was no way she could keep up with full vamp speed. Never a dull moment. 

  
  
     


	4. Chapter 4

     "What the bloody hell is this?" Spike charged the circle of Scoobies, pushing Xander and Willow aside with his stride, away from Buffy's headstone. The stone still felt like a slap, every time. He'd spent many nights here, some with Dawn, some not. Waiting for the sun, and waiting for _her,_ to jump out and right the world at any second's notice. They'd brought flowers, gifts, Dawn's last B on her math test held down by a few small stones.  'She saved the world a lot' was the understatement of her existence.  _Wankers._

     "Spike- we were- uh." Willow's eyes darted from Tara to Xander, smeared blood on her face still, still shaken and juiced from the mojo. Even if they hadn't had success. Power still coursed through her, ebbed and rocked her on her feet. It was a nice feeling, but tiring. Quickly tiring. 

     "And also ow! Did anybody order a toothless bleached wonder?" Xander joked, but his hands shook, too. He didn't want to be relieved that it hadn't worked, but Willow looked like Hell, Anya looked shaken, and Tara had honestly seemed iffy on the whole thing from the beginning. Maybe sometimes fate knew better, he wanted to believe. But how could fate not allow Buffy to come back?

     Spike was daring the chip to fire with how hard he was thinking about ripping Xanders head from his body. But that  _smell._   _Fear and adrenaline and life._

    "Shut up! All of you! Listen!" Muffled screams for help shattered his vamp hearing and he dropped to his knees to tear at the soil at once. He'd already watched her die once and it wasn't an experience he was willing to have again.

    "Spike, what are you........? It didn't _work_." Willow stood confused, and still agitated about that, actually. She'd done everything right. It'd  _felt_ right, Buffy should've been back. And that dream! That dream had meant something, dammit!

     "Whatever you did-" Spike couldn't talk, couldn't think. Not now, not right now, not while he could _do something._  His hands fought roots and grass as Dawn caught up and knelt next to him to furiously pull dirt away, too.

     " _Spike_ \- she's not-" Xander was frankly exhausted. He hadn't slept well in days over this but at least he wasn't in denial like bleach brain.

    " _Listen_!" Spike snarled and allowed a beat for frantic 'helps!' beneath them to be heard. "We're coming, Slayer! Hold on!"

    "Oh, goddess, we were so..." Tara trailed off, a wave a mix of dread and hope washed over her, and she stepped forward, trying to center her mind by closing her eyes. She whispered a few bars of Latin and then the earth separated; a ripple of dirt brought the coffin to the earth's surface, and she felt her lips shake, grasping back for Willow's hand.

     Dawn braced herself, still scared of flashbacks to Joyce, scared of losing her sister _again_ , scared, scared, scared, and she and Spike pried the heavy wood open with dirty hands.

     "Dawn!" Buffy's voice rang coarse to all their ears; she still gasped, greedy for the relief of fresh air, and she twisted, turning to Dawn, clutching to her too hard, too strong, before any of it felt real. "Dawn," she croaked into her baby sister's soft, brown hair, hands snaked around her shaking shoulders for long, long minutes none of them dared to count.   
  
     The air felt too cool to Buffy, the light too bright and too dim at once, the pressure of  _life_ thrust upon her without so much as a  _thinkfast!_ and she'd already had to struggle for it. She focused hard on breathing, on holding her sister close, on  _not_ acknowledging resurrection for a third time. She thought she still smelled death on her, but maybe that was just Dawn's grief, shaking out of her in sobs into Buffy's shoulder.

     Spike stood for what felt like entire lifetimes, weighing the odds of this being a dream he would snap out of. Tears tracked their way down his face with frantic abandon. He watched her, trembling, his eyes afraid to look away, and his chest dared itself to burst. He smelled the pungent blood of her knuckles, and he heard her panicked heartbeat slow it's slams against her ribs as she registered safety and life.

     Chancing the dull headache he pulled Willow aside, leaving sisters to tearfully reunite and the rest of the Scoobies to stare dumbfounded.

     "What did you do?" He kept his voice to a low growl, never less concerned with the chip than at this moment, but concerned with disturbing Buffy.

     Willow smacked his hand away, her eyes still on Buffy and Dawn, radiating with pride, satisfaction and the dim glow of magic still.

     "What no one else could." She sniffed a little and tears threatened to overcome her, suddenly exhausted physically and emotionally from such a long day and night. They stood too close for too long, him deciding whether to thank her eternally or kill her swiftly.

     "Oh we could have all let the Slayer suffocate- you nearly killed her, again." The threat was in his voice, the killer in his tone, retroactively dealing with joy, euphoria and anguish and terror. "Why didn't you  _tell_ me?"

     "I pulled her out of an unspeakable hell dimension-" Willow's whispers were squeaky and full of false strength but genuine pride. "Sorry I forgot my shovel." Her nostrils flared and he almost snapped. But a clammy hand reached his shoulder, still shaking a little, and Buffy turned him to look at her, her smile, her light, her life- Dawn still clung to her sister, they clung to each other.

     "Let's go home." Buffy met his eyes, clear blue with shame and guilt and power; smoothing a tear on his chin with her thumb, she gave him a purposeful nod. The touch of her bloodied hand unnerved him and calmed him all at once. A grin played on her face that spited them all, "I know this sounds really weird, but I think I'm really, _really_ tired."

     It helped the Scoobies release their stiff breaths, all respectively offering her timid, almost disbelieving hugs. Willow, shaky still but strong, Xander, relieved and tearful, Anya, sure and steady, and Tara, just grateful and gentle. Buffy's eyes couldn't help but tear again and when they did she reached a tentative hand each to Dawn and Spike, and the whole group trekked back to Revello Drive, leaving disturbed earth and grave without a second thought.

 


End file.
